Latin

Latin

Whether students should still be dedicating their time to learning Latin is often a controversial topic. As the basis for many European languages, an understanding of Latin can give students tremendous insight into the structures of almost all Indo-European languages. Studying Latin gives students a strong foundation for learning a variety of modern languages. We use many Latin root words in everyday speech, as well as in a variety of technical fields. Because of this, Latin is compulsory for many humanities courses such as history, languages and archaeology. Learning Latin can even help with unrelated languages such as Chinese, because it develops the necessary skills and concepts that are needed as a basis for studying other languages.

Vocabulary

Many students struggle with learning languages and Latin can cause even more difficulties than normal. When we look at a student's current language skills, we can tell if they gave up any serious attempts at learning in the beginning. In many cases, their lack of trying is due to the complications of developing a functioning vocabulary. In Gymnasium, the responsibility for building a strong vocabulary is often left up to students because of time constraints..

What We Offer

We encourage our students to take home our lists of vocabulary and learn them thoroughly. Students will come across this vocabulary again and again in their Latin lessons so we strive to build up in-depth knowledge through action-oriented teaching methods. We show our pupils alternatives to rote learning, helping them to build up their vocabulary quickly and effectively.

Declinations, Conjugations and Other Grammatical Rules

German is one of the most conservative languages in Europe because it has various grammatical cases, different person forms, three genders as well as both singular and plural. Latin has some similar features, but the differences can cause problems for students. The numerous declinations and conjugations are a particular hurdle for many students.

What We Offer

We believe it is important for students to work out the grammatical rules for themselves, alongside our help and support. From experience, we know that small amounts of assistance, such as pointing a student in the right direction, can help to develop a self-sufficient method for learning rules. This enables students to make their own discoveries and build a larger vocabulary and understanding. The Latin grammatical rules need to be consistently polished. To do this, we offer a flexible learning program that uses a range of teaching methods.

Syntax (clauses, Accusativus cum infinitivum etc.)

To truly understand a language, students need to know what is happening at the sentence level. In English and French classes, the curriculum often skips over sentence analysis because these languages can be taught in an action-oriented style that is based on reading, writing, listening and speaking. This approach is much more limited when it comes to Latin, because it is no longer spoken by millions of people across the world.


Understanding the grammar and syntax of Latin will also give students an understanding into the structures of all Indo-European languages. Sentence analysis is often easier in Latin, because there are changes to every person, every case, every gender and every number (singular or plural). In French and English, these changes are more minimal. Many students lose patience in the early stages, because they do not absorb these grammar rules properly.

What We Offer

We support our pupils by providing them with texts that have been compiled especially for them. When students see their own name in the text, they often become more interested and can understand the piece more clearly, helping them to give a better analysis.

Translations

Getting students to translate from Latin to German is a great step for building up knowledge of the language. We offer both older and newer teaching materials that are based on the principle of actively applying the grammatical rules. In our experience, many students question the point of learning Latin and give up early on. This causes major problems if the student doesn't receive early intervention.

What We Offer

We provide students with a range of extra texts and other learning resources that vary in difficulty. If students seem like they want to give up in the early stages, we work through translation texts that have been individually adapted for them. Both the level of difficulty and the content of the text are tailored to the student's needs.